Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton suffered a torn right Achilles tendon in a game-seven loss to Oklahoma City in the NBA Finals, multiple reports said on Monday.
The 25-year-old American point guard is at risk of missing the entire 2025-2026 campaign because of the injury, which is similar to one which cost NBA star Kevin Durant a full season after being hurt in the 2019 NBA Finals, ESPN and The Athletic said.
Haliburton became the third star player to be lost in the playoffs to a ruptured Achilles tendon after Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard — with all three uncertain at best for next season.
Photo: Getty Images via AFP
Haliburton is evaluating surgical options, after playing despite a calf strain in the NBA Finals in hopes of bringing the Pacers their first NBA title, reports said.
The Indiana star went down without being touched as he tried to drive to the basket just over seven minutes into the first quarter of the winner-take-all contest in the best-of-seven championship series.
Haliburton grimaced in pain and began slapping the court. He put no weight on the injured leg as he was helped off the court with towels covering his face.
Photo: Getty Images via AFP
“What happened with Tyrese, all of our hearts dropped,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said after the game. “But he will be back. I don’t have any medical information about what may or may not have happened, but he’ll be back in time, and I believe he’ll make a full recovery.”
Haliburton had been averaging 17.7 points and an NBA-best 9 assists a game in the playoffs.
Without Haliburton, the Pacers went on to lose 103-91 in Oklahoma City, which won the NBA title for the first time.
“He authored one of the great individual playoff runs in the history of the NBA with dramatic play after dramatic play,” Carlisle said. “It was just something that no one has ever seen.”
With three stars possibly lost for next season due to torn tendons in the playoffs, and the title game potentially turning on a major injury, the topic of reducing the 82-game per club regular season was set for the spotlight once again.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver spoke upon the issue earlier this month after Tatum and Golden State’s Stephen Curry sustaining major injuries in the playoffs to reduce wear and tear on players.
The NBA provides more playoff rest days than in prior seasons, and there is “no data” to suggest fewer regular-season games would produce fewer injuries, Silver said.
“I’m not sure it’s a function of the regular season,” he said. “There’s a certain cadence to the playoffs. If anything, there’s more space in the playoff games than when you and I grew up in the NBA. We used to frequently play playoff games back-to-back on the weekends.”
“Having said that, we, of course, look at it very closely,” he said.
The NBA competition committee is to meet next month at Las Vegas, he said.
Denver Nuggets star Aaron Gordon spoke up about what some players call “fatigue-based injuries” in the playoffs after the load of a full season.
“Part of what we do is look at every form of data that we can get our hands on. That includes minutes played, injuries, and whatever impact we see that back-to-backs are having on players — not just measured by injuries, but also measured by production on the floor,” Silver said.
“We’re going to continue to look at it. I don’t think there are any magic bullets here. In fact, injuries are considered down this playoffs from what has been historically. I don’t want to make a change just to make it change. We will continue to look at it,” he said.
The NBA starts a new 11-year media rights deal worth US$76 billion next season.
“Money is part of it, there’s no question about it. We’re a business,” Silver said. “But having said that, I don’t really see the benefit to reducing the number of games.
“People used to say you should reduce the number of games, because it will lead to reduction in the number of injuries. There’s absolutely no data to suggest that,” he added.
Kylian Mbappe struck from the penalty spot as Real Madrid beat a dogged CA Osasuna 1-0 on Tuesday to make a winning start in Spanish La Liga under new coach Xabi Alonso. The France striker, last season’s European Golden Shoe winner, scored early in the second half, after he was fouled in the area by Osasuna defender Juan Cruz. It was enough to seal the points in Alonso’s first game in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu, with Madrid now unbeaten in their opening fixture of a league campaign since 2008. “You can see that Kylian wants to do even more
TO THE TOP: After securing the international title on Saturday, Team Taiwan were to face Las Vegas to potentially win their 18th Little League World Series championship A team from Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School won the Little League Baseball World Series’ international title on Saturday by defeating Aruba 1-0 in the annual baseball tournament held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Taiwan team, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, were after press time last night to face a team from Las Vegas, Nevada, which beat a team from Fairfield, Connecticut, in the US championship 8-2. Taiwan are seeking to win their first Little League Baseball World Series title since 1996. “Really haven’t taken a moment to data dump right now on Taiwan,” Nevada manager T.J. Fescher said. “They’re a
‘CATASTROPHE’: Despite losing several key forwards in the summer transfer window, Bayern were up 3-0 in the first half before Harry Kane scored a hat-trick in the second Harry Kane hit a hat-trick, Michael Olise a double and newcomer Luis Diaz also scored as Bayern Munich made a “statement” against RB Leipzig 6-0 at home in the Bundesliga season opener on Friday. Bayern’s big-money arrivals, all brought in from the Premier League across the past three seasons, were dominant as the Bavarians begun their title defense in style. Olise scored twice in the first half, either side of a Diaz strike. Not to be outdone, Kane scored three goals in the second half — with two assists coming from Diaz, to bring Bayern’s total to 6-0. Kane told the Bundesliga
Kevin de Bruyne is to lead SSC Napoli’s Serie A title defense today when he makes his full debut at promoted US Sassuolo, but the champions head into the new season rocked by a long-term injury to star striker Romelu Lukaku. De Bruyne was, alongside aging icon Luka Modric, the big new name to arrive in Italy this summer and fans were hoping his linkup with Belgium teammate Lukaku would push Napoli to success both at home and in their return to the UEFA Champions League. The 34-year-old has suffered from hamstring injuries which caused him to miss significant chunks of the
RSS